If your disgusted at the way H-D Motor Co. does business, turn your yours over too!
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Here's a before pic, and now pic. I do all my own wrench'n. This is the third shovel I've done and maybe the last it's a keeper.
I found it in a sawmill, dirt floor barn where it sat for over 5 yrs. I buy 95% of my parts from a local shop called Performance Cycle.
But ounce in awhile I like to buy og parts you know. But the H-D Co. has moved on, they are no diferent than Chevy, Ford or Mopar.
It's just a drag, they of all companies have lost touch. It's all about the $$$$$$$$ !
So, far I have been pretty happy with the dealers I have had to deal with.........went in three times to buy a HD......got an HD!!! They made it easy, made it work they way we wanted to.....easier than getting a car. I do somethimes question service issues with one dealer specifically the 1,000...5,000....10,000...20,000. Since the questions I have gotten my service manual and do them myself, something major would be the only reason to take it in and I would probably use a local authorized service guy
So, far I have been pretty happy with the dealers I have had to deal with.........went in three times to buy a HD......got an HD!!! They made it easy, made it work they way we wanted to.....easier than getting a car. I do somethimes question service issues with one dealer specifically the 1,000...5,000....10,000...20,000. Since the questions I have gotten my service manual and do them myself, something major would be the only reason to take it in and I would probably use a local authorized service guy
TRY A DIFFERENT DEALER
And bis is bis..........most are alot alike.
I am happy with HD at this point in my life
I would but my bike is 27 years old and no one behind the counter knows what a Shovel Head is!!!!!!!!!!!!!
James, I am suprised you even thought your local dealership could work on your shovel (very cool bike!). I ride to my dealership to look at new bikes but am there to buy 60 weight oil (all I have ever run in my 65 pan and 50 chopper).
I would like to have the time to do a survey of dealerships to determine how far back they are willing to go to work on older HDs. I bet that anything beyond 10 years would politely be turned away. I think all one has to do is to look at the number of units being sold each year and it is easy to see why the Motor Company no longer needs (a harsh term but real) the support of those who choose to ride the old scoots (knucks, pans and shovels). And I'll bet that taken together we would not add up to even half of last year's total production totals.
Simply put, it is not profitable to support these models so they do not need the mechanical expertise either. They will take your money on a piece of merchandise or some other piece of paraphernalia, but if you want support you would get more from a jockstrap than from a dealership. Please, I do not mean to be mean-spirited because dealerships today do much more than dealserships of yore as far as rider support (be it bikes, maintenance, or parts). If the Motor Company had done this in the 60s I do not believe AMF would have ever stepped in to salvage HD until Willie G and the boys bought it back.
Get yourself the original maintenance books and parts manuals, wrenches etc and learn to do the majority of the work youself. Find a good mechanic and use him for the stuff you absolutely cannot do yourself. I have made a habit of inspecting my bike before each ride...that means starting the day before my friends who all ride new bikes. Neither bike has ever left me standed on the side of the road. Both bikes have been ridden to Stugis, a couple of times and all on secondary roads...hence no need for speed. The 65 has been as far east as Kentucky.
To me there is nothing more cool than an old bike going down some two lane blacktop. I can't help but think about the old bikes from the 20s 30s and 40s and what it must have been like for them in their day. You really had to have heart to do the things they did. So enjoy the fact that you own a piece of real history. Who knows, someday maybe even the Motor Company will realize it and find a way to recognize it.
Why would you looking for someone to turn a wrench on your Shov?
You can't do it yourself?
Thought that is what Greybeards did, wrench on their own, 'cuz noone knows it better..... Maybe those days are gone.....
Go to Sharon, PA... Performance Cycle..... Bob O'Hare, one of the best for the old school stuff..... He was raised on V-Twins, and has forgot more than most people will ever know...
Or you can contact me.....
There are 2 techs at the shop that I work at that do Shovels and Pans.... Myself and a Greybeard..... Heck, we even do ground up customs and restos on the old iron.....
FWIW, not all HD shops turn that stuff away..... I did a 76 FX last winter, complete custom, ground up... I took it as a labor of love, and the owner was more than pleased about the outcome.....
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My HEROES are:
1) Anyone who has ever stood in the face of evil, and did their best to divert it from the innocent
2) Anyone who has ever been face down on the canvas at the 8 count, and regained their feet to finish the fight,whatever fight it was
I don't think he wanted anyone to 'work' on it...He was commenting on The MoCo discontinuing parts for the older bikes. I've got a 93 and there is a whole lotta stuff that you can't get for it either. And a bunch of stuff on the soon to become 'obsolete' list. Unless some obscure dealership happens to have one on the shelf, you've gotta head to the aftermarket.
Like the auto companies....The MoCo ain't in the business to keep your 15 year old vehicle running...They're in the new vehicle manufacturing business.
Oh, and selling clothing & accessories...can't forget that either.
I don't think he wanted anyone to 'work' on it...He was commenting on The MoCo discontinuing parts for the older bikes. I've got a 93 and there is a whole lotta stuff that you can't get for it either. And a bunch of stuff on the soon to become 'obsolete' list. Unless some obscure dealership happens to have one on the shelf, you've gotta head to the aftermarket.
Like the auto companies....The MoCo ain't in the business to keep your 15 year old vehicle running...They're in the new vehicle manufacturing business.
Oh, and selling clothing & accessories...can't forget that either.
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"YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE, I'LL LIVE MINE"
Had a similiar problem recently with a clutch for my 1988 called ALL dealers in Toronto to find my 6package of disk all they had was one or 2 was really frustrating since this is a standard wearable part... ended up putting the bike back together cleaning up old disks next week I was in Hamilton and the dealer there has been around for years they had it in stock and explained that if I need a jacket go to the big dealers they will have my size but for parts go to the small older dealer....BTW it was nice to see them look up the parts on index cards and not a computer
Patches, we don't need no stincken patches
